Bed-brace.



No. 843,403. PATENTED FEB. 5, 1907 w. W. LOGKETT.

BED BRAGB. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 20, 1906.

AM" wane-o n4: NORRIS PETERS co., wAsmmncm, 0. c,

WYATT W. LOOKETT, OF CASON, TEXAS.

BED-BRACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 5, 1907.

Application filed September 20,1906. Serial No. 335.475.

- such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertainsto make and use the same.

This invention has relation to bedbraces, so called, which are devicesthat are adapted to engage the pairs of wires passed through screw-eyesat the head and foot and sides of the bed-frame to form a part of thebottom upon which the mattress is laid and after engagement with thesaid wires to be operated to tighten or stretch the same.

As heretofore constructed it has been inconvenient for one person,particularly if that one person should happen to be a woman, as iscommonly the case, to get in between the sides of the bed-frame, slats,and wires and operate the braces so as to properly adjust them. Besides,the brace itself has been more or less imperfect in its operation.

It is the object of my invention to provide such improvements as willmake the adjustment of the braces easy and without annoyance and to havethem keep position with the utmost security and certainty when adjustedand, furthermore, to have the brace operate effectively in all respects.

The invention will first be described in connection with the annexeddrawings, forming a part of this specification, and then be pointed outwith distinctness and particularity in the subjoined claim.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved bed-brace. Fig.2 is a sectional view sh owing the manner of operating the pin-actuatinglever and its pin to efl'ect adjustments.

It is well known, as above indicated, that the foundation of somebed-bottoms upon which the mattress rests is comprised of two sets ofwires, one at the head and the oth er at the foot, "each of which setsengage screweyes at the head and sides of the frame or at the foot andsides, and the two sets thus set up are engaged at the center and drawntogether or toward each other by a brace and tightened, so that withthem and ordinary slats, two, three, or four in number, a foundation forthe mattress may be formed. To accomplish this, however, it is necessarynot only to have an el'licient brace, but one that can be used by awoman, which is the usual want or exigency in the matter.

In my improvements I employ two bars 10 and 11, pivoted together at oneend and having hooks or catches 12 pivotally connected therewith, one oneach arm, located a suitable distance inward from the pivotal. point ofthe arms, and to the otherwise free end of one bar 10 I secure one endof a transverse bar 13, provided at intervals along its length withholes 14, through which a pin 15, carried on the outer end of apivotally-springpressed rocking lever 16 may pass, having first beenpassed through a hole in the outer end of the bar 10. The preferredconstruction is to have a slot formed horizontally through the outer endof the bar 10, so that the bar 13 may pass therethrough and then havethe pin pass through the part of the bar 10 above the mortise, thenthrough one of the holes in the transverse bar, and finally through thepart of the bar 10 below the mortise. The pin-carrying rocking lever 16is pivoted by means of a spring on the bar 10, and said spring operatesto press the forward end of the lever down with all of the forcenecessary to keep the pin 15 in engagement with its parts. Thisconstruction and arrangement of parts is easily controlled and operatedby one woman, and the hooks 12, which engage the wires, are easily drawntogether to the necessary extent and locked by the pin 15, as stated.This cannot be so easily done where a wire loop connected with one baris made to engage notches on the other, in which case it is necessary toget between the bars and shove the loop along while holding the otherbar. The hooks 12 being pivoted in the side arms will adjust themselvesreadily to the direction of draft of the wires engaged by them, whichequalizes the draft on the wires and makes the operation easy.

That I claim as my invention is The combination, with the bed-frame andtwo sets of wires one connected with the head portion and the other withthe foot portion tioned bars, and adjustably connected with of theframe, of a brace comprising two bars the free end of the other bar.pivoted together at one end and each pro- In testimony whereof I affixvided with a pivoted wire-engaging hook, I in presence of two witnesses.whereby the hooks may adjust themselves WYATT WV. LOCKETT. readily tothe direction of draft of the said wires, and a transverse barpermanently connected at one end to one of the first-men- A I O mysignature Witnesses:

J. T. BARNARD, J. R. LOOKETT.

